The 2014 Pulitzer Public Service Award for “meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site” was awarded Monday to the UK-based publication The Guardian and the US-based publication The Washington Post for their reporting on documents provided to them by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The two publications are being honored for their “revelation of widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, helping through aggressive reporting to spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy.” Their reporting has, for example, helped reveal the extent to which the US’ NSA and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters have collected information en masse about millions of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails. Additionally, it has illuminated the mechanisms through which US telecommunications and technology companies have been complicit in government spying efforts.